State of Decay 2: Rise of the Wolfpack
by PRAKNASTY
Summary: In a world ravaged by the undead, only a small amount of people survive to carry on humanity's legacy. These are the stories of one group of survivors known as "The Wolfpack" and their struggles to survive the apocalypse that has evolved before their very eyes.
1. The Dead Walk Amongst Us

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION! That's right everyone I've returned to this site with a new story to boot. (Sorry if you guys were expecting an update to my current ones, but this came to mind and I had to write it.) The past few months have been particularly busy for me, I've recently moved in with my fiancée and then we got married about a month ago. I've also left my old job and started a new one that takes up pretty much my entire day. So in summary, my free time has been pretty tied up but I'm back now and will update when I can. Hopefully you guys enjoy this story as it features some characters from my XCOM 2 universe, just tweaked slightly. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 1: The Dead Walk Amongst Us**

* * *

 _'How long has been? A couple months? A year? I'm not sure haven't been keeping track of time since this nightmare began. Then again there hasn't really been a whole lot of moments where we could track time with all these things walking around.'_

These were the thoughts of a 6' 3'' Caucasian male as he rode in the shotgun seat of a beat up, tan 2010 Ford Fusion. He wore a blood red t-shirt with the Dr. Pepper® logo smack dead center, a pair of stonewashed blue jeans with rips at the knees, yellow Under Armour® sneakers, a pair of dog tags around his neck, and a backwards black snapback with the Baltimore Orioles® logo on it.

 _'I guess I'm lucky to still be alive with all this stuff going down. I also feel lucky that I'm not by myself, there is almost no way that I'd be able to survive on my own in this mess.'_

The male was again lost in his thoughts as he gazed at each of his two traveling companions. The first was casually lounging in the back seat while taking a nap across the seat's entire length thanks to his 6' 5'' frame. He was wearing a black v-neck t-shirt, a black hooded biker jacket with the sleeves ripped off and the word "Loner" written across it in big red letters overtop of a red snarling wolf's head. He also was wearing black jeans and black combat boots. But the most striking features about him were his hairstyle and tattoos. He had a 6'' chestnut brown mohawk that ran down the center of his scalp coupled with matching beard dreads that reached the center of his chest. His tattoos consisted of barbed wire wrapped around the entirety of his right bicep, and a black wolf stalking its prey running the entirety of his left arm.

The other companion was currently driving with a tired expression as he vigilantly watched the road for any roadblocks or creatures. He was also 6' 3'' and wore a blood red ball cap with a hammerhead shark on it, a blood red jersey with a matching hammerhead shark on the front of it and the word "Frag" written across the back in big bold white letters, a pair of black track pants, and black Converse® high-top sneakers.

 _'I'm glad to have the both Loner and Frag here with me in all of this mess. Friendship and cooperation are essential now that the dead have risen. It's just a shame that none of our families' made it out. Then again Loner didn't have any family left, so maybe it wasn't as hard on him when the world went dark. Promised help never came, and we were left to pick up the pieces and survive in this harsh new reality. Loner and I worked our way south so it'd be easier to live with the warmer climate. Frag met up with us in Nashville and we agreed to head Northwest as the situation wasn't much better down South as we thought.'_

The male paused in his monologue of thoughts to open his car door and smash a staggering zombie on his side of the car with a resounding THUD.

"Ten points man!" said Frag with a thick drawl as he smiled slightly at his video game reference before getting serious again as the male drifted back into his thoughts.

 _'We made it to Trumbull Valley and found the place deserted, looked as though a war had broken out with the giant crater evident at the mouth of the valley as well as what appeared to be a memorial planted at the side of the road under a tree. We had no idea where the hell to go from there, but we looted what we could and pressed onwards towards the Northwest. Hoping for a break, we may have finally struck gold. We've gotten a couple weak radio signals from radios but nothing strong yet, however I'm still holding out hope that Drucker County is the answer to our prayers for fellow survivors. I don't know how much longer...'_

The male stopped his monologue as he rubbed his eyes to make sure that he wasn't being deceived by the sight before him. Limping along the road was a male who seemed to have seen better days as he was holding a bloodied golf club in his right hand with a yellow small backpack on his back. He was wearing a red beanie, had on a green plaid shirt with an orange hunting jacket, dirty blue jeans, and black sneakers. He was being followed by about five zombies each with blood flowing from their eyes and mouths.

"Frag are you seeing this?" asked the male in a quiet voice.

"Yes I am. Loner wake up we got action!" yelled the Southerner as the male in the backseat jolted awake and picked up a crowbar from the floor.

"About fucking time! Let's light this candle!" said the tattoo-clad male in a gruff and angry voice as Frag drove the car directly at the male before hitting the brakes at the last second and spinning the car around him before slamming it into the lead two zombies as the three of them exited the vehicle in unison to attack the other three undead. Loner made quick work of his with a hard swing from a crowbar as it knocked the zombie off balance as it fell to the ground and he stomped it's head in with his boot. Frag moved in on his rather quickly and ducked under an errant grab before stabbing his machete into the creature's throat and dragging the blade upwards through the skull and dispatching the zombie. The third male just calmly drew a M1911 semi-automatic pistol from his waistband as he sent a .45 caliber round into the final zombie's cranium dead center as it fell backwards to the ground lifelessly for the second time in its existence.

The trio then turned to the man being chased by them as he slumped to the ground in exhaustion.

"Thank goodness you guys came along. Those fuckers have been chasing me for a good distance." he said in between labored breaths as he drank an energy drink he pulled from the inside pocket of his hunting jacket.

"Where'd you come from anyway?" asked Clay gruffly as Frag was still examining the corpses of the felled zombies.

"From the old Vogel House just a mile or so North of here. My home base came under attack from a horde and I managed to escape to find help. As you can see I didn't get away exactly unscathed but not terribly worse for wear." said the male gesturing to his ankle.

"But where are my manners, I'm Jason Gordon, but everyone calls me Jace." he said as he shook hands with Clay and the unnamed male.

"I'm Clay "Loner" Levandowski said the muscular teenager.

"My name is James Watkins, but everyone calls me 'Watts'" said the Dr. Pepper t-shirt teen. As he offered a smile.

"We'd be happy to help liberate your settlement under the condition you let us join your community." said Watts as Jace's eyes lit up.

"Really!? Sweet we're happy to have some more help and able-bodied individuals." said the male as he hobbled over to the car and hopped into the backseat on the driver's side.

"I can guide you guys there, but I need to apply a splint to my ankle first so I'm not going to be of much help in a fight." he said as he looked down at his bum ankle.

"Don't worry about it, we've got this." said Clay confidently as he hopped into the driver's seat and started the car up.

Watts in the meantime had walked over to Frag who was still crouched down over the dead zombies.

"What's on your mind Mitchell?" asked Watts as he crouched down next to the Texan.

"Something ain't right here man." he said as he motioned to the dead zombies. "These here ain't normal zombies even by zombies' standards. They got blood oozing out of them and they seem far more deadly than other zombies we've encountered." he said as he took off his ball cap and scratched his head.

"Yeah I noticed that as well." said Watts as he swiped some blood up with his fingers and swirled it around between them before wiping them on his pants' leg.

"Maybe our friend here can enlighten us on them." he said turning and motioning towards Jace who'd finished putting a splint on his ankle.

"But first we need to focus on rescuing those trapped survivors." he said as the two hustled over to the car and jumped in the shotgun seat as Frag jumped in the backseat behind Watts as the car took off down the road towards the Enclave.

* * *

== Ten minutes later ==

After a short drive following Jace's directions, the car stopped on a hill overlooking the house from the South as the four had gotten out to set up their next move. Loner was looking through a pair of binoculars as Jace had drawn a rough sketch of the place for them in the dirt beside the car.

"What we dealing with Loner?" asked Watts as the taller teen turned around towards them.

"Looks like a giant clusterfuck to me. We got at least two screamers, a juggernaut and on top of them 10 of those blood oozing fuckers. Looks like there's a room barricaded on the upper floors with two people inside, one of them is hurt bad though." said Loner as he handed in the binoculars.

"Alright I think I've got an idea." said Watts as he moved them over to the diagram. We're going to have to draw some of them away from the house before we make our breach. Loner you're our best driver so you'll be the distraction. Crank some 5FDP and get them to follow you about two miles from here before blowing that car up. It's served its purpose and wasn't going to much farther anyway." he said pausing as Loner nodded at his orders.

"Once they're gone, Frag and I will breach the yard and try to take down the stragglers. Jace you're going to need to hit some good shots on the Screamers and Juggernaut to buy us time to deal with the others. If they get to us, it's over." he said as the other two nodded.

"Great let's get this thing done so we can finally settle down in permanent place." said Watts as they set off to accomplish their tasks. Watts moved to the trunk and grabbed the gear they had set up in the trunk before closing it and tapping it to give Loner the sign to move in for his part of the plan.

"You sure he'll make it back here okay? He's only seen the place once." said Jace as they watched the car approach the house before stopping and honking the horn loudly. The zombies inside looked over at the new disturbance. A few seconds passed before "Under and Over It" was heard blasting across the previously quiet plains as the car took off at a moderate pace so as to not have the zombies lose interest in it as six of the blood covered zombies followed the noise leaving behind just two of them, the Screamers and the Juggernaut.

"Loner is the best tracker and also toughest person I've known my entire life. If there's anyone who can get this done, it's him." said Watts confidently as Jace nodded at the statement.

"Alright let's move out guys. Jace hang back a bit and start shooting once we rush towards the first zombies." ordered Watts as the two slowly approached the front yard of the house. Once the two were within a foot of the gate, they stopped and looked back towards Jace who was lying prone on the ground next to a dried up watering hole located in the center of a roundabout directly in front of the house. He drew his .22 caliber rifle and pulled back the bolt to insert a round and slammed it home before giving the thumbs up to the two of them.

"Let's roll!" shouted Frag as he charged into the fray and tackled one of the two blood covered zombies before stabbing it in the cranium with his machete.

"BAM!" a shot rattled off as one of the Screamers' head exploded from the round that Jace fired as he started reloading while Watts went charging in and took down the other blood covered zombie with a Kukri stab to the right temple.

The other Screamer was getting ready to shout as Watts drew his pistol and fired a round that exploded the Screamer's skull. With all the targets down, Frag rolled to his right to avoid the charging Juggernaut as it ran straight into the metal fence with a loud crash dazing it.

Watts and Jace started firing off as many shots as possible to the creature's head as it fell to its knees due to the constant shots raining down on it. Seeing his chance, Frag leapt into action and ran up to the creature before jumping on its back and repeatedly stabbing his machete into the creature's skull, until it finally penetrated the brain and he ripped the entire head off with it because it was stuck.

With the immediate threat dispatched, Watts threw Frag his pistol as the two waited for Jace to hobble over to them before entering the ajar sliding kitchen door at the rear of the house. The three slowly cleared each room before ascending the stairs. A lone straggler was quickly dispatched by Watts on the left hand side of the top of the stairs in a storage room area. The trio then turned to a locked door on the right hand side of the second floor that Loner had earlier stated contained the trapped survivors.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Jace approached the door and knocked on it, before hearing a pump of a shotgun and a round entering the chamber.

"SCATTER!" shouted Frag as he pushed Watts down into the storage room, before landing beside him and Jace dove through the open sliding door onto the stairs leading up onto the back deck as a shotgun blast tore through the door and impacted the wall behind where the three were previously standing.

"Jesus H. Christ! It's me fuckers!" said Jace as a voice rang out from the other side of the door.

"Jace! We thought you were dead." exclaimed the female voice as she slid some stuff out of the way and opened the door to reveal the bedroom's interior to them.

The female in question stood at about 5' 7'' and was of Latin decent. She had tan skin, long black hair drawn back into a ponytail reaching the middle of her back, she wore a brown blouse, black yoga Capri pants, and pink Sketchers®. She was still holding the aforementioned pump shotgun and had a black tiny drawstring bag on her back.

"Dottie lost consciousness about 20 minutes ago. She got swarmed by a bunch of those plague zombies. Don't think she's going to make it." the female said as she motioned to the heavily breathing woman in her late 50's with a poorly bandaged bite mark on her neck. She wore a gray t-shirt, a pair of black jeans, and black sneakers. A red bandana was torn up and tied around another bite mark on her left arm.

"Damnit! If I hadn't heart my ankle I'd been back sooner. I'm sorry Manni." said Jace as he punched the wall.

"It's alright Jace, you did your best. At least you're okay." said the now named Manni as she patted his shoulder in a show of support. She then turned and noticed the other two males who were dusting themselves off.

"It seems as though you brought reinforcements. Hello gentleman, I'm Manuela "Manni" Castillo." she said with a slight bow. The two males followed suit and then also introduced themselves.

"Salutations, I'm James "Watts" Watkins."

"Name's Mitchell "Frag" Fragman, we're just happy to help m'am."

"Yeah they and another male found me and eliminated my pursuers before coming back to help me." said Jace as he motioned towards them.

"Can you guys carry her out back onto the picnic table, it's kind of our makeshift medical tent." the two nodded and gingerly picked her up with Frag grabbing her feet, and Watts grabbing her shoulders.

The two carefully traversed the back steps as they gently laid her down on the tale as Jace looked her over closely before her breathing all of a sudden just stopped and her body went limp.

"Guess that's it for you Dottie. I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough to save you." whispered Jace as he closed her eyes with his fingers and moved to grab his rifle.

"Here let me do it. A rifle seems a bit overkill." said Watts quickly as he picked up his pistol. Jace acquiesced to the suggestion as Watts stepped up and aimed at her forehead.

"Requiescat en Pace Dottie." said Watts as he pulled the trigger and her head shot up due to the force of impact from the bullet. After the deed was done, Jace covered her with a sheet as the others hung their heads in a unified moment of silence.

BOOM!

An explosion then rocked the area as they looked to the eastern horizon to see a fireball looming up towards to the sky.

"Looks like Loner went too far with the explosives again Watts." said Frag as he admired the fireball.

Watts could only shake his head as he slapped his forehead.

"Yeah he's been this way since we were kids, there's no point in trying to change him. Let's go ahead and get our gear from the drop-off point while they start getting things back online." said Watts as the two of them headed back towards the front of the house.

Manni was understandably shocked at the laid back approach of two of her savior's attitudes towards their friend's actions. She then turned and whispered to Jace:

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" Jace for his part could only turn to her and shrug his shoulders.

"I have no idea, but they might be our best chance of surviving this fucked up world." he said as they started to pick up the pieces of their disheveled home base.

* * *

== Later that Evening ==

The four group members had just finished setting everything back where it belongs and getting the new guys' things set up in their new digs when they heard a knock on the back metal gate. The four froze and stood up on the back deck looking down to see a hooded figure standing there. Jace and Manni both drew their firearms, but Watts held up his right hand to tell them to wait as he stepped forward.

"Flash!" he said strongly but cautiously.

"Thunder!" came the gruff response as the figure lowered their hood to reveal Loner in all of his glory.

"Now open the goddamn gate!" he said as Watts made his way down and opened it for him as he strolled inside while Watts locked it behind him. The two then proceeded to double high five before doing a simultaneous backflip.

"Nice to see you in one piece brother." said Frag as he saluted his friend.

"Same here cowboy." he said as he walked up the stairs behind Watts.

"Clay 'Loner' Levandowski at your service." said Loner as he introduced himself to Manni with a wave.

"Manuela 'Manni' Castillo, was that you earlier with the explosives?" she asked as he nodded.

"Yeah I got a little overzealous with the grenades and gasoline, but it made one hell of a boom. We'll just need a new car." he said as he stroked his beard dreads.

"There's one in the garage next door, we can fix it up tomorrow." said Jace as he headed inside and the others followed suit.

"I do have a question for you guys. Earlier you mentioned something regarding 'plague zombies' which I assume are the bloody zombies from earlier. Can you guys enlighten us on them because this is the first we've seen or heard of them?" said Watts as Jace sighed.

"Yeah they're basically highly infectious zombies that were infected with a blood plague. Too much exposure to them and you'll die without the cure for the disease. Thankfully we know the cure, but we just don't have the necessary ingredients to make it at this time." said Jace.

"Where do these things even reside?" asked Frag as he was concerned about this super zombie.

"We've discovered that they are centered around things called Plague Hearts. They're basically giant beating hearts that have infested different buildings around the area where they then spawn these zombies. Once the heart is destroyed, that particular area will be cleared of them. If we manage to take out all of the hearts, then the whole county will be clear of them for good.

"Shit." said Loner as he shook his head.

"Yes succinctly put." said Watts as he paused and processed all the new information he was given. He then looked around the room and then smiled.

"But we did sign on for this, remember we did promise to help on the condition you let us join your group. So we're not going to abandon you to accomplish this task alone. We're a wolf pack and we don't abandon each other." he said with strong conviction.

Jace and Manni could only smile as they looked at the three males who were smiling back at them and standing with their hands on top of one another in a huddle. They then stepped forward and joined them in the circle.

"Loner lead the cheer." said Watts as the tall man cleared his throat.

"Wolfpack on three! Wolfpack on three! 1! 2! 3! **WOLFPACK!"** they all shouted in unison as they raised their hands to the sky. Watts could only look around the room and smile as he thought to himself.

 _'Looks like we found ourselves a home. I can only hope this is the beginning of a bright future for us in this messed up world. Let's do this!'_

* * *

 **AN: And that's a wrap on this chapter readers. It feels good to get back into the swing of writing again. I can't wait to get back to doing this weekly and give you guys a story to follow again. Speaking of that, remember to leave a favorite, leave a follow, tell your friends about the story, and leave a review to let me know how I'm doing. I love to hear from you guys. Anyway I'll catch you all in the next update, this is "The Nasty One" signing off!**

 **-PRAK #TheNastyOne**


	2. Not Everyone Deserves a Second Chance

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION! Man it has been almost another year since my last update on this site. My job turned out to be a lot more drama than it was worth, but I finally landed a job in my field of study and am finally doing what I want with my life. This opens me up to be more free to strive after my hobbies again. With that said let's drop back into the story, last we left off the Wolfpack started its formation at the Vogel house. Now let's see what encounters are group experiences.**

 **Chapter 2: Not Everyone Deserves a Second Chance**

== The Next Day ==

After the reunion of Loner the group turned in for their first night together, with a rotation of watch between four people, the group made it through relatively well rested. The group then set about their different tasks of keeping the house in tip top shape for the foreseeable future. Watts made himself useful by counting the inventory and monitoring the radio for any chatter on the local channels. He found that most of the supplies was in good order minus medical supplies to treat Jace's ankle but set that aside for the moment as he calculated how far the supplies would last them.

Frag and Loner focused in on straightening the inside rooms up and got the kitchen and bedrooms organized and useable for everyone. Afterwards, Loner headed up on the balcony to keep watch while Frag started work on a garden out front to help supply some fresh vegetables to expand their pantry of canned meat and non perishable food items. Progress was halted a few times so he could pick off some stragglers with his machete but otherwise had something serviceable within an hour.

Jace was still nursing his injured ankle so he did a little bit of light cleaning of the infirmary but otherwise spent his time laying down on the picnic table making sure to keep his ankle elevated with some spare pillows from the upstairs bedroom. He just made sure to flip the blood-stained side over to try and not think about Dottie's death yesterday, despite his best efforts he couldn't help but feel like he let that happen.

Manni meanwhile was busy exploring the abandoned garage next door to the house for any drivable vehicles and extra spare parts for said vehicles. The kitchen had a couple of key hooks on the wall most of which were empty, but one had a set of keys on them that opened the doors in the main house, the gates and the garage along with a Chevy key. Upon opening the garage, Manni drew a Kukri from her back pocket and scanned her surroundings.

The garage itself was only big enough for two cars, one of which was missing leaving a two door Lime Green Camaro sitting in the middle of the open floor. The back wall to the right was lined with a mechanic's paradise as it had everything one could think of that would be necessary to fix a car minus actual parts/tires. The right hand wall was lined with unused building materials as well as some gas cans that upon closer inspection were filled with gasoline.

 _'This is a perfect scenario for us, granted we only have a two door car, but we can always pick one up when we come across one. This extra gas and building materials will definitely make Watts happy, he was really struggling with the projections of us living here. Let's go ahead and report back to him.'_

Turning around to leave, she quickly stepped to the left as a zombie managed to sneak up on her and lunged at her but came up empty. Being off-balance the zombie toppled over and tried to get up, but Manni reacted swiftly and stepped on its neck and stabbed the Kukri into the back of the head as it stopped moving altogether. Unsheathing it from the skull, she heard a sickening snap as the blade remained in the skull but the handle was in her left hand.

 _'Well shit, let's get back before more of those freaks show up!'_

* * *

== Back at the House ==

Manni entered through the side gate of the property passing the vacant motor pool where most of the work on their vehicles would be done while under their care. Moving up the steps Loner nodded to her as he kept watch over the rear cliff that sloped down past their back fence for any massing of undead. Heading inside the sliding door, she came to the site of Watts and Frag looking over a whiteboard with a great amount of numbers written on it.

"And with this all factored in we can probably survive a week." said Watts as the two men became aware of Manni's presence.

"Hey Manni." said Watts with a small wave as Frag nodded to her.

"What's up guys? Any good news?" asked Manni as she dropped the keys back on the key ring.

"Not much. We have the bare minimum amount of food, water and ammunition." said Watts solemnly as he looked over the numbers one more time.

"And don't get him started on the materials and fuel levels, he might just blow a fuse with all these numbers being crunched in that big brain o' his." said Frag with a smirk as Watts slapped him upside his head.

"Ow! What was that for?" asked Frag indignantly.

"For being an idiot." retorted Watts.

"Okay" said Frag as he readjusted his hat.

Manni just sighed at the two, but got back on track with her reasoning for being there.

"Well I can fix those two issues for you, the garage next door has a working sports car, at least five cans of fuel and also some extra building supplies for the renovation job this house probably never got." her news gave Watts a big glimmer of hope in his eyes as he moved with a laser sharp focus and rapid hand movements as he quickly erased and rewrote out his calculations as Manni slid over to Frag and whispered to him.

"Has he always been this way?" she asked referring to Watts.

"Yeah as long as I've known him he's always been great with numbers. When we played games together I'd ask him what our odds of succeeding in a certain situation if x, y, and z happened. He'd have me an answer in about ten seconds. Let's just say our winning percentage was exceptionally amazing." replied the Texan as he talked his buddy up.

"What games did you guys play?"

"Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, or CS:GO for short."

"The tactical shooter?"

"You've heard of it?"

"Yeah it was a popular game for some of the kids I taught at the gym, they were bullied a lot and came to me for help."

"Ah a personal trainer, remind me not to get on your bad side." said Frag as he raised his hands defensively.

"Damn right cowboy." said as she playfully slapped his shoulder and he laughed along with her. Meanwhile, Watts had finished his calculations and set down his black marker and took a sip from a yellow coffee cup filled with water.

"Alright look like we can survive for maybe another half a week because we're still limited by food, water, and medicine but with the extra fuel we may be able to find some more locations that have these key resources." said Watts as he wiped some sweat from his brow with his shirt.

"That makes sense, not to mention we don't really know the area as well as Manni and Jace would since we aren't from here." said Frag as he went over the logistics Watts had drawn out.

"Well I'm free, I can go out to the cell tower and climb up to see what's around us." said Manni as the two dudes looked at each other and nodded.

"Sounds like a plan to us, take what you need from the locker and head on out." said Watts as he turned back to the board."

"I'll grab Loner and go grab the supplies next door, just don't forget a radio. We got lucky finding those last night." said Frag as Manni nodded and geared up from the supply locker at the top of the stairs.

* * *

Grabbing a rusty movie set katana, and some ammo for her shotgun, Manni headed out the back gate and carefully treaded down the slope of the cliff path towards the bottom of rock face. Turning to the right, she noticed a cluster of buildings on the right side of the road, and also a large metallic structure with a ladder scaling the entirety of it. Having the cell tower in sight, she set off at a slight jog with her camo green drawstring bag lightly hit against her back as she passed a burned out SUV with nothing worth salvaging from it.

Moving along, she drew her katana and decapitated a slow moving zombie on her left as the head rolled on for a few feet before coming to a stop a few yards away. Reaching the tower without any other issues, Manni began the task of scaling the structure which seemed like a large task, but with her athletic background it was accomplished with minimal trouble.

Reaching the top, Manni took a second to catch her breath as she took in the area around her enclave's home. Below her the cluster of buildings included what seemed to be a market of some kind, as well as a doctor's office no doubt having some form of medicine inside. Across the road from there was a gun shop and a convenience store that might have something worth searching for.

Further up the road was a water treatment facility, as well as an abandoned military blockade indicating the failed attempt to hold off the infection in this area, turning back around Manni observed a refueling station up the road past the home base, and across the road from that was a house that appeared to have somebody living in it, as the lights were on with a portable generator on the right side of the house, and a pickup truck out front with fresh dirt on the tires. Looking further up past that, there was an storage building that had an ominous red cloud around it and the inside was radiating a stench of death that managed to reach Manni's position a good half mile down the road.

 _'Damn looks like a Plague Heart is literally almost in our back yard. I have no idea how many of them are around us, but we'll need to deal with them sooner rather than later.'_ thought Manni as she picked up her radio to raise the base.

*Beep*

"Hey guys it's Manni, come in."

*Beep* *Beep*

"Reading you loud and clear, Manni it's Watts go ahead."

*Beep* *Beep*

"Looks like we got a doctor's office and a market just below us to the southwest of the house. We may be able to find some stuff to keep us afloat a little longer. Not to mention we also got a gun shop, abandoned military blockade, gas station and a water treatment facility. Plus we got a couple of neighbors we can introduce ourselves to at some point."

*Beep* *Beep*

"Nice that's excellent to hear, hold off on approaching them for now we need to ascertain their true intentions before becoming acquainted with them."

*Beep* *Beep*

"Copy that, I also found a Plague Heart. It's just past the neighbor's base in a storage shed but it's looking very foreboding."

*Beep* *Beep*

"We'll deal with that when the time comes, don't worry about it right now. Let's focus on getting this place taken care of. I'm sending Frag down to help you search those buildings for the medical and food supplies, be on the lookout for him."

*Beep* *Beep*

"Copy that Watts, Manni out."

*Beep*

With that conversation over, Manni turned to a small locker on the platform behind her. A swift turn of a pocket knife opened the lock and inside the container was a 9mm Taurus semi-automatic pistol and a two magazines of ammunition.

 _'Jackpot, Frag didn't come here with a gun so he'll definitely need that.'_

Pocketing the resources in her waistband and backpack, she leaned against the railing and awaited Frag's arrival at the site.

* * *

== Ten Minutes Later ==

It didn't take long for the Texan to make his appearance as he came jogging up while wiping his machete off on his shirt, having taken out a zombie on his way out of the back gate. Manni slid down the ladder and came to a stop on the ground smoothly and reached into her waistband before handing Frag the 9mm.

"Hold on I got some ammunition for you as well." said Manni as she pulled her bag off to dig around for said ammo as Frag looked over the gun in slight admiration yet also critically.

"Nice, little wear on it but it'll do." he said as he slid the slide back and made sure the chamber was empty before ejecting the magazine to check it over as well.

"Yeah found it on top of the tower, looks like an emergency gun case someone left behind in a hurry." replied Manni as she handed over the bullets and watched Frag engage the safety before starting to load the magazine. Once he'd finished loading he went about loading it and placing the slide back in place before disengaging the safety and putting it in a holster he had on his right side.

"You used to carry?" she asked as the two started over towards the buildings.

"Oh yeah, my parents were big gun nuts so we always had them all over the house growing up. They even bought me this holster." he replied as he lifted up his shirt to show off the worn brown leather holster covering his right leg.

"Nice you were close to your parents?" she asked as she noticed him flinch slightly making her immediately regret asking him.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to..."

"Nah it's cool, you didn't know." he replied as he took off his cap and ran his fingers through his hair before putting his cap on backwards.

"We had a falling out when I decided to pursue professional gaming as a career instead of going to college like my brother. Led to a fistfight between the two of us as well." he said motioning to the 2'' scar above his left eye that resembled a diamond encrusted ring.

"Ouch, he got you good." she said sympathetically.

"Yeah it was a cheap shot, but I managed to get him on the ground and pounded the ever loving shit out of him. Moved out the next day and never heard from them again before this all went down." he said as he let the sun wash over his face before turning back to her.

"Do you regret ever leaving them like that?" she asked as they reached the abandoned market stands.

"A little bit, but at the same time I get where they were coming from. They wanted me to make something more of myself than what they were able to do, but at the same time they also could've been more supportive in my choices. I just see it as it's all in the past, let's move on and keep looking forward to tomorrow." he said with a small smile as he surveyed the stands in front of them.

"Doesn't look like much is left around here, I can move on to the clinic if you want to look around this area." she offered as he looked around and nodded.

"Sounds good to me, watch your back out there chica." he said with a smirk as she punched his left shoulder.

"You to cowboy." she replied with a chuckle as she moved ahead to the doctor's office.

* * *

== With Manni ==

Manni approached the office's front door as she checked to see if it was unlocked. It in fact wasn't, but Manni forced it open with a solid shoulder tackle. She caught it before it smacked the wall and she quietly shut it behind her as she took in the waiting area in front of her.

Chairs were piled up against the windows on the left hand wall, as there was a couple smears of blood on the right wall and a handprint on the front wall behind the reception desk. There was a pool of dried blood that had leaked under the front of the desk, which contributed heavily to the pungent odor of iron that hung heavily in the air.

Covering her mouth with a mask from her left pocket, Manni drew her katana and stealthily approached the desk and peeked over it. The only sight that greeted her was a female corpse that was severely devoid of flesh which were missing from her neck and skull area exposing what was left of her empty head. Dried brain matter was present on the floor and on the bottom of the wall as if someone had shot her at moderately close range to avoid her turning on them.

 _'Damn what a way to go.'_ thought Manni as she progressed to the doorway and peeked left into an examination room which was empty for the most part save for some bandages and gauze in one of the cabinets. Pocketing that, Manni moved back to the doorway and entered into a tiny hallway that had three more doors going down the hall. The first door located directly across from the waiting area was a unisex bathroom that had some dried blood in the sink and some used sutures in it that were relatively old looking. Advancing further down the darkened hallway, Manni reached the second door on the left hand wall and opened it into a doctor's office with a dead male sitting at the desk.

Behind his head was blood spatter indicative of a gunshot wound based on the small blood droplets that had dried into the wall. The gun in question was not in sight, but the doctor had some stitches running across their left wrist indicating that the sutures in the sink were from him. He was leaned back in the chair looking up at the ceiling with a bullet hole in his throat under his chin, with an accompanying exit wound on the back left side of his head. A check of the desk revealed some more 9mm rounds, which Manni claimed but she couldn't find the gun and placed that thought in the back of her head for later.

Exiting the room, Manni moved to the last door at the very end of the hall, which was a supply room filled with painkillers, medical tools, antibiotics, needles, burn cream, as well as some more bandages and gauze. Taking the opportunity to collect the stuff for the home, Manni loaded the supplies into her rucksack so she could bring it back to base for sorting later. Finishing up with the last of it, Manni reached down to her radio and prepared to contact Watts, but pain was all that greeted her as a swift blow knocked her down as she fell to her right against one of the shelving units and slid slowly to the ground. Looking over she saw a male in a gray hoodie snatch her rucksack before taking off back into the hallway as she passed out from the pain of the blow.

* * *

== With Frag Moments Ago ==

Frag had been hard at work searching through the different food stands, none of the fresh produce was any good, but there was also plenty of canned food stored behind the stall counters, as well as some snacks in some untouched vending machines. Frag loaded everything he could find into his rucksack before slinging it over his shoulder.

Turning back around to face the clinic, he noticed a figure wearing a gray hoodie exiting the door very quickly. Recognizing the figure as a male, he drew his pistol and pointed at him.

"Stop thief!" he exclaimed as he fired off two rounds which both missed the fleeing male. Said male stopped to flip him off before hopping into a small red pizza delivery vehicle and take off towards the Southwest away from the base.

"Son of a bitch!" he shouted as he cursed his bad luck and picked up his radio.

*Beep*

"Watts we got a situation! Our medical gear has been stolen!"

*Beep* *Beep*

"What do you mean it's been stolen!?" came Watts' response.

*Beep* *Beep*

"Just that, some figure just hightailed it out of the medical clinic with Manni's rucksack. I got some shots off, but he got away heading towards the Southwest."

*Beep* *Beep*

"Is Manni okay?"

*Beep* *Beep*

"Stand by, checking on her now."

*Beep*

Frag sent the transmission and sprinted into the medical clinic as he checked each of the rooms in an uncoordinated manner finally reaching the supply room and seeing Manni sprawled out on the ground with a welt on the back of her head. Rushing to her, Frag kneeled down and slowly rolled her over to see no bleeding coming from her ears, nose or mouth, and saw she was breathing rather normally indicating a knock out.

*Beep*

"Manni's got a nasty welt on the back of her head, but other than that she seems to be okay just passed out from the hit."

*Beep* *Beep*

"That's a relief, get her back here and we'll figure out how to go from here."

*Beep* *Beep*

"Copy that bro."

*Beep*

Frag clipped the radio back onto the left side of his belt, before adjusting the rucksack over both of his shoulders and over top of his smaller red backpack. Then he checked to see if all of Manni's gear was with her, before carefully picking her up like a princess and began the trek back to the base taking care to avoid any undead along the way.

* * *

== Back at Wolfpack HQ ==

Arriving back at the base in one piece, Frag kicked open the back gate and made his way over to the small door on the bottom right side of the house. Loner met him there as he opened the door for him as Frag made his way inside and laid Manni down on the bed so she could rest a little more comfortably.

He then made his way back out the door as Loner softly closed it for him. Jace had hobbled over to the gate and shut it before following them up the back steps to the landing where Watts was waiting for them. Frag dropped the rucksack into the supply room, before placing the extra gear he was carrying back into the locker leaving only a bottle of painkillers, a energy bar, his machete and his gun with eight shots on his person along with his backpack.

He rejoined the trio as Watts looked at him with worry and concern.

"You're okay right?" he asked as Frag nodded.

"Tell me what happened." he asked as Frag recounted what he saw occur and what happened between the end of the radio transmission and the trek back to the house which was largely uneventful.

Watts put his hands behind his head as he stared up at the sky deep in thought while Frag hung his head regretting his inability to at least stop the thief before he escaped. Loner was glaring out at the horizon as he remembered spotting the car heading off past the plant and making a left before crossing a bridge out of view. Jace was taking in the actions of the three men as he broached the topic he was hoping they'd have an answer for.

"So what are we going to do about this?" he asked as the three stopped and looked at one another, but it was Manni who answered.

"We go out and take back what's ours!" she said in anger as her voice startled them as she stood at the bottom of the back steps.

"That blindside attack was nothing more than a test. If we roll over and do nothing than that will be taken as a sign of weakness!" she said passionately as Watts thought over her statement.

"As much as I would rather avoid them for the time being, you're the one they attacked. So if you want to take vengeance out on them you may do so." he said thoughtfully as Manni nodded vehemently.

"Loner you're going with her." he said as Manni looked like she wanted to protest but Watts cut her off.

"Not only was he the last person to see him driving away, but he's also dying for some action around here. You ever need anyone for intimidation, interrogation, or revenge he's your guy. Good luck out there."

As Frag and Watts dispersed, Loner walked over to Jace who'd hobbled back to his makeshift lounge.

"Jace you're from around these parts correct?" said Loner rather gruffly as Jace felt immensely even shorter than their five inch height difference.

"Um yes I'm pretty familiar with the area. Why are you um asking?" he said nervously.

"Relax I ain't going to hurt you, I just need to know if there's any big towns around here within driving distance. If I'm them I'd hole up somewhere where it'd be hard to find them." explained Loner as his voice lowered in gruffness, but was still stern.

"Oh yeah well you're probably looking for Santa Maya then. Since your new you're going to want to go the way of the main roads. Make the left where the car did then go to your first intersection and turn right, follow that bend around the mountains until you come to another road and turn left than follow that along the mountain until you come to another cell tower. Make a left and you're in the center town. Probably looking for a well maintained building like the pharmacy, the gun shop, or Wally's Bar and Grill. The hospital is probably too big to secure, plus it's on the outskirts of town so we'd know if they were there on a drive thru of town." said Jace as he took a breath after his long winded explanation.

"Thanks Jace, I'll make sure to catalog this for everyone later. Take care." said Loner as he patted Jace's left shoulder and hustled over to the garage where Manni had just started the sports car up.

* * *

== In the Car ==

Manni began the drive into town following Loner's directions but other than that it was a rather quiet ride which didn't faze Loner in the slightest, but it was beginning to unnerve Manni somewhat due to her still throbbing headache. Looking over she saw that Loner had begun painting his face using the passenger visor mirror.

"Why are you painting your face Loner?" she asked as he answered her without looking away from the mirror.

"Intimidation, if people see you with war paint on then they will know they made a big mistake messing with you. Especially in this post-apocalyptic world we've found ourselves thrust into." said Loner nonchalantly as he'd finished his outline for what appeared to be a handprint in black paint. He then placed that back in his black drawstring bag as he grabbed some red paint to fill it in.

"Why the handprint?" she asked as she diverted her attention back to the road to make the right at the intersection Loner indicated.

"It's a symbol from my favorite band's albums Five Finger Death Punch, or 5FDP for short. Plus the red paint looks like the devil's hand blessing me with his powers of destruction, coercion, and all around badassery!" he said emphatically as the handprint was filled in covering his left eye with the palm and having the fingers extending onto his forehead just under the front tip of his mohawk's hairline.

"That seems to suit you rather well Loner. Pardon me for asking but what made you want to get all these tattoos and grow your facial hair out to look like a Pirate or Viking?"

Loner sat back in thought but eventually shrugged and started with a resigned "Fuck it."

"When I was growing up, my family was killed by a drunk driver when I was only 12 years old. Lost my mother, father, and younger twin brother and sister." he paused as he took a sharp breath in to compose himself as Manni made the right at the next intersection.

"I didn't have any proper coping mechanism for this outside of my friendship with Watts, so I went down the wrong path in life. In and out of juvy, bunch of fights, getting tattoos, getting some scars along the way." he said as he paused and took a drink from a water bottle he grabbed earlier in the day.

"That's actually really rough for a child to grow up with, you said you grew up with Watts right? Was he your only friend?"

"Basically. No matter how many times I fucked up he was always there to help me out, rock out with me, help me get my GED. In return I pretty much protected him from bullies and anyone that insulted him would get the shit beat out of them. Though there was one time I was sure he'd never forgive me for being unavailable to save him. Yet he continued to be my friend even though I failed him. But that was the last time I ever went to juvy, because we both buckled down and got our GED's early to try and start a rock band together. Sadly this all went down before we made it big."

"What happened to him?" she asked.

"That's not for me to say. You'd have to ask him about it, it's not something he'll tell others unless he absolutely trusts you."

"Fair enough, but it sounds like you guys are really tight."

"He kept me on the straight and narrow, and he never gave up on me. I owe that man my life. STOP THE CAR!" he all but shouted, startling Manni as she did so and realized they were at the intersection that led into the heart of town.

"Why'd you do that!" she exclaimed worried.

"Look!" he said as he pointed across the street in the parking lot behind the pharmacy building. Right there in front of them was the same red car that Frag described earlier, even down to the pizza decals on the side.

"Turn off the car, and get out quietly." said Loner as she complied and the two of them snuck over to the car to get a closer look. Nothing seemed to stand out, but the rucksack was nowhere in sight.

"Looks like he took the stuff inside to split with his group." said Manni as Clay pulled out Watts' .45 and took the safety off.

"We hit them fast and hard so they don't know what hit them, leave the thief alive last so that way his fate can be decided by your hands." said Loner as Manni nodded and cocked her shotgun.

The two then crept around the right side of the building through an alley it shared with an abandoned store. Clay withdrew his crowbar and dispatched two zombies that were milling about so they could keep their element of surprise. Reaching the front of the store, the two noticed the door was ajar and stacked up against the window that still had the blinds drawn closed.

Being the closest, Loner peeked in to see how many opponents they were dealing with. There were three individuals that he could see, the first was a woman about 5' 7'' with dark skin wearing a sky blue t-shirt with a cloud on it, a pair of dark blue Capri pants, and black sneakers. She was holding a spiked baseball bat in her right hand and had a cigarette in her left that was recently lit. The second individual was a light skinned male that looked to be about 6' and was wearing a green hunting jacket over a black t-shirt along with black tactical pants. He was also wearing a black ball cap and had a severe 5 o' clock shadow. He was barefoot and had a .22 hunting rifle slung over his right shoulder as he counted out the score that was brought in. The other male that was seen earlier was slumped against the back wall clearly asleep. In addition to his gray hoodie, he had a pair of black jeans on, and white sneakers. His face was still obscured, but next to him was a baton and a Smith and Wesson M&P®40 semiautomatic pistol laying at his feet.

Seeing this, Loner motioned for Manni to come take a look and peering inside she saw the same thing as Loner. As she moved back to get behind him, she accidentally kicked a tin can that rolled down the street and startled the three who quickly got into a defensive position behind the shelves.

"Who goes there?!" asked the first male as he peeked out to the door.

Loner peered back in at him and with the biggest glare he could muster stared the man down and said in a deep tone that was borderline demonic:

"Your worst fucking nightmare! Nobody steals from the Wolfpack!" he exclaimed as he brought out his pistol and fired a round that hit the man dead between the eyes causing him to fall down and onto the other male knocking him over.

"Carl!" exclaimed the woman as she charged at Loner, but Manni swung out to his right and leveled her shotgun into the woman's chest sending her back against the display shelving and causing her bat to roll harmlessly away.

"Brenda!" exclaimed the now frightened thief as he dropped his weapons and fell to his knees and said in a high pitched tone.

"Don't shoot please! I beg you!" he said as Loner finished off the woman with a shot to the head before marching right up to the cowering thief and placed his gun squarely against his forehead before deftly pulling back the trigger but not quite enough to set it off.

"Where's our shit!" he downright demanded as the thief pissed himself. Not satisfied with the answer, Loner fired a warning shot into the wall next to his head.

"I can't fucking here you maggot!"

"It's right there on the table, everything I swear. The duffel bag is out back."

Loner looked over to Manni and motioned to her to go grab it. She did and returned a moment later before Loner was satisfied and let the trigger go before holstering his gun and packing the stuff up.

"He stole from you, so you make the final call." he said over his shoulder as he continued gathering stuff off of the other dead thieves.

Manni stared the man down as she cocked her shotgun to remove the spent shell and kept her gun trained on the man. Seeing nothing but fear in him as he shook like a leaf, Manni decided to take a different approach.

"What's your name?" she asked as the man balked for a moment before answering.

"Dennis." he all but whimpered.

"Dennis do you regret what you did?"

"Yes." he said with a rapid nodding of his head.

"Good, maybe next time you'll think again before stealing from a group of strangers. You'll never know what they're capable of." she said as she motioned for Loner to hit the road since he was done collecting everything.

"Make sure you spread the word because the Wolfpack doesn't take shit from anybody as she turned away from him and started following Loner towards the entrance.

Dennis looked down at himself and continued shaking as he became enraged at how pathetic it was in this very moment. He just watched his two friends die, and could do nothing as these two clowns walked all over him.

 _'Not to mention I fucking pissed myself. Like seriously who does that?! This was supposed to be an easy score.'_

His thoughts clouded his judgment as he reached down and grabbed the pistol before screaming at the top of his lungs as he aimed at Manni's retreating back. Time seemed to slow for Manni as she turned and saw Dennis having her dead to rights, she was frozen and all she could do was watch as she heard a shot.

*BANG!*

Dennis' body slumped to the ground as his head exploded outwards thanks to Loner's perfect aim. He blew across the barrel of his smoking pistol as he placed it back into his holster and calmly moved to loot Dennis' body as well.

Manni could do nothing but stand there and wonder what the hell just happened to herself. After finally unfreezing, she turned to Loner and grabbed the offered loot and placed it in her upgraded blue backpack she got from Brenda's dead body.

"How did you know he would do that?" she asked practically in shock.

"It was in his eyes when I was interrogating him, he was shaking sure but his eyes were desperate looking for a way to survive this. I waited to see what decision you'd make." he said nonchalantly as the two got in the sports car with Loner driving.

"Why'd you let me do that if you knew he'd go off!?" she asked incredulously.

"It's very simple." he said as he chucked a homemade C4 explosive that landed on the pizza vehicle. He pulled a u-turn and sped away as he pressed down on his detonator and the car engulfed itself in flames and made a big ruckus to distract the oncoming horde from their getaway.

"It was a very teachable lesson you and Jace need to learn. Not everyone deserves a second chance." he said as the two sat in silence as they made their way back to base.

 **AN: And that's a wrap on this chapter. We got some good character development for Frag and Loner that some people wouldn't know had they'd never read my stories before, plus we got some minor details for Watts, Jace and Manni. More will be revealed as they interact with the other neighbors situated around them. Let me know your thoughts on how this chapter turned out in a review. And also thank you guys so much for the support of my hobby. I make no promises on when the next chapter will be posted, but I will try to keep it under a year this time. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day. This is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **\- PRAK**


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